Oktava 219

[Marik]

Wow.... For a dishonest guy, he sure has a lot of glowing reviews of his product and services.

Well, it is not about his services (I just never had chance to experience them myself). It is about his business practices and ethics. There are quite a few microphone techs around who’s got glowing reviews. I do not remember a single one who uses Mr. Joly’s tactics. Have you ever seen Stephen Paul spamming? Have you ever seen Tony Merill spamming? Have you ever seen Ju reducing himself to spamming? No people with at least some sense of honor or integrity do that.

What Mr. Joly does is he uses the fact that most of the techs respect the ethics of internet and do not use boards for their advertising. There is very transparent goal in his constant bragging and inserting into EVERY SINGLE message remarks like “out over than 250 those or that mics I serviced ”, with out of context hinting “when I perform my Standard, Floating Dome or Flat Top mods”, or proclaiming “that ribbon mic is associated with my name” (!!!) . Have you ever seen Klaus Heyne who has his own forum even once making even slightest hint like that? Joly tries to monopolize the field with dishonorable, cheap, and low style tricks. It all shows his deepest disrespect to other techs and profession itself.

Needless to say, this is very much in accordance with my personal experience with him, when he showed himself as somebody with very little dignity, moral principals, and integrity. Gosh, he even did not have enough guts to write, apologize, and acknowledge he did wrong.

And I am not even talking about his long history list of posting a lot of incorrect and false information and technical bullshit, which he uses extensively in his advertising and posting. All the professionals I ever talked to immediately see it, when BS detector jumps way out of range. Nobody though ever calls him on that and his spamming practices. You know why?—because it stinks and nobody wants to put hands into that dirt.

Sure he knows to talk beautifully. Sure he learned perfectly well how to take that friendly and confiding tone. But of course, unfortunately, as anything in our world, the prettier the smile, the better BS works.

Best, M

 

[Crash80]

Hmmmm.....FYI, Stephen Paul passed away in December of '03.

I think we look at this from two different views. I would look at it from an end user looking to improve the sound of his cheap, possibly Chinese built, Oktava. You are from the other side, as a a guy who does this sort of work. I can respect your beef with Mike I guess though I don't know if I would think of his posts as spamming per se. I think spamming when I am getting Viagra and porn threads on the pro audio forums. At least his posts are on topic of the forum... but maybe I am off base on what the true definition of spam is.

I don't know Mike or have I had any of my mics worked on by him. I can only go on what others have said about his services on mics they had done. All seemed happy. I must wonder where the line is on interjecting into a thread about services someone provides, as to when it becomes annoying or just good business sense. This truly is a respectful curiosity. Anyway, carry on.....

 

[misterlong]

I have a couple of unmodded 319's which I have always liked a lot for various jobs. They were in fact the first LDC's we bought when we set up our studio about 11 years ago. They still do the job really well (except the shock mounts are seriously rubbish!!)

I am interested what difference removing the resonator disc makes on its own without any of the other mods mentioned here.

Thanks

long

 

[MichaelJoly]

Removing the resonator disc improves time domain performance of the capsule.

Transient response is noticeably improved - this is heard as greater articulation in the attack portion of plucked strings and cymbal hits. Improved time domain performance also provides greater differentiation between "S" and "SH" sounds by reducing time domain smearing (decay portion) of these high frequency sounds. This is also heard as a lessening of sibilance. These improvement are accomplished by reducing reflecting and refracting surfaces near the capsule diaphragms.

In the frequency domain, removing the resonators will reduce output level at 10kHz by 4dB. (the resonators were placed on the capsule as a physical means of EQ boost).

But, like cupping your hands around your mouth as a resonator to make your voice louder, there are fidelity degradations that occur with the use of these capsule resonators. My ears prefer the more accurate time domain, tighter transient response and decreased sibilance of the '219 capsule without resonator discs installed. This modification, (among others) improves the ability of this microphone to "take EQ" from high-quality analog or software equalizers so the loss of a fixed 4dB boost at 10kHz is not a hinderance.

 

[misterlong]

Thanks
That is a very full reply!!
I may well try the mod. Since we have 2 I can do one and see which I prefer. I guess i will need to desolder rather than the method described above which includes 'clipping' the plastic disc.
Thanks again.
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[rodabod]

Most equalisers apart from modern digital examples cause phase shift when gain is applied at a certain frequency. It is also part of the sound which is what modern eq. plugins are doing to change the sound by affecting phase response (and distortion too).

Treble resonators are also used on many dynamic mics, and I believe Audio Technica use them on their condensers too.

I've tried removed the disk on one of my Oktavas. I didn't find the difference to be particularly noticeable between a modded and un-modded version.

I have the MKL2500 as well as the 219 and 319, and even the difference between those is not great, with the MKL having greater headroom and a pleasant distortion on louder sources. I believe a very large part of the sound of these mics is in the capsule.

 

[Barks]

I concur as I have the 2500, 219 and 319.

All have the discs removed, and as MJ has said, I find they take high end EQ really well.

Barks

 

[antichef]

So I guess it's *not* a good idea to remove the screw in the center of the diaphragm in order to pull off the disk? (not that I've, um, not that, um ... )

 

[Barks]

So I guess it's *not* a good idea to remove the screw in the center of the diaphragm in order to pull off the disk? (not that I've, um, not that, um ... )

Well, that's how I did mine...but I have steady hand!

Barks

 

[antichef]

Well, that's how I did mine...but I have steady hand!

Barks

I did two that way, and I'm not aware of any problems -- and I like both the mics now and they even match pretty well. But is it a torque thing? Just wondering why it would be suggested to desolder/resolder the other end of the wire when the screw is right there.

 

[Barks]

Its because you could easily crease/tear the diaphragm I guess.

When I started the first one I noticed as I gently (and cautiously!) re-attached the contact, that it was easy to potentially over tighten and create a swirl like crease. So when I did the rest, I observed when this was about to appear, then backed off a bit.

2 years and all are still going fine.

Barks

careful on the coffee intake tho...

 

[Madguitrst]

I did two that way, and I'm not aware of any problems -- and I like both the mics now and they even match pretty well. But is it a torque thing? Just wondering why it would be suggested to desolder/resolder the other end of the wire when the screw is right there.

Well, maybe as Marik suggested you can take out the four front screws and get the resonator disc off that way.....or unscrew them a bit and snip the disc. Either way, IMHO, there is NO reason to unscrew the center screw; simply use wire cutters to snip the disc and off it comes......it's that simple, really.

 

[greg.pittman]

I think spamming when I am getting Viagra and porn threads on the pro audio forums.

People might have different opinions on what is spamming. It is however clear that using boards for self-advertising and self-promotion without paying advertisement fees IS a SPAM. With all due respect, it seems Michael has crossed all the borders in this case.



Hey Marik,

The difference in those clips is quite huge. The stock seems muffled, dark, and seriously lacking top range. The modded sounds like very expensive mic and there is a feeling almost like the mic is a continuation of the guitar. That would be nice to hear some vox, if you have.

How's your modification different from Michel Joly'?

Greg P

 

[misterlong]

319

I used my stock 319 last night again on my sax player (modded one was unavailable) and it continues to amaze me how fat it sounds on this tenor. I will post some clips when I have time. This is an 11 year old mic which has consistently done the business. I think they were about 300 quid each when we bought 2 of them back in 1997 (to the best of my dodgy memory). They have been proper workhorses along with the 57s and 58s we bought at the same time. I still frequently will use them on vocalists over much more expensive mics. Can't fault them!!
long

 

[Crash80]

People might have different opinions on what is spamming. It is however clear that using boards for self-advertising and self-promotion without paying advertisement fees IS a SPAM. With all due respect, it seems Michael has crossed all the borders in this case.



Hey Marik,

The difference in those clips is quite huge. The stock seems muffled, dark, and seriously lacking top range. The modded sounds like very expensive mic and there is a feeling almost like the mic is a continuation of the guitar. That would be nice to hear some vox, if you have.

How's your modification different from Michel Joly'?

Greg P

Cool... As I stated in my previous post, this really was/is a curiosity and the last thing I would try and do is pick a fight or insult.

I too, am interested in the differences of the mods.

 

[Marik]

Hey Marik,

The difference in those clips is quite huge. The stock seems muffled, dark, and seriously lacking top range. The modded sounds like very expensive mic and there is a feeling almost like the mic is a continuation of the guitar. That would be nice to hear some vox, if you have.

How's your modification different from Michel Joly'?

Greg P

Hey Greg,

Thanks for nice words about the mic. I will try to post some voice clips later.
As for modification differences, I never experienced Joly’s work first hand, so it is often quite hard to know or understand behind all the marketing BS and exaggerations exactly what Mr. Joly wants or actually does.
In any case, WHATEVER you do to either Oktava 219 or 319, it is going to improve those mics quite a bit. The original stock parts are of such a poor quality that any part upgrade is already a big improvement.

With quite an extensive testing and R&D I came to somewhat different conclusions than Joly about what works the best and what gives the biggest bang for bucks in those microphones. It is all about compromises and the main question where to make them.
For example, re-wiring with some exotic wires on paper sounds like a good idea, however, how much improvement it would bring? Could you in a double blind test tell the difference? I am very sorry, but the stance of “wiring is used to deliver better fundamental / harmonic time alignment” to me sounds like what called “audiofoolery”.

Or take cutting off grill stands… Of course, it is nice to claim to write something like “world first”, or it is a “true innovation” and “side bars cause sound reflections that can smear detail.” “You'll hear less boxy, more open sound” . However, there is a good reason nobody did it before. Besides obvious mechanical weakness of the grill, it seems Mr. Joly somewhat got carried away here with the claims about standing waves. Considering the bars are about ¼” wide the standing waves would occur at some 54KHz, i.e. way above bandwidth. Again, in a double blind test would you be able to tell the difference?--I think not…
Of course, for all that you are charged premium and in my opinion is not a cost effective solution.

On the other hand, since actually the CAPSULE is the HEART of any microphone and defines the sound and shapes response, I perform the mods which IMO are much more effective. It is a common knowledge that Oktava capsules are way too dark (hence the use of resonators). One can argue whether resonators improve the performance, or not, but my capsule re-machining and re-tuning gives FAR better and more noticeable results and IMO is by FAR more efficient, for the same money. The capsule sound becomes open, airy, and with a spark missing in the original one.

Another difference, I am using a using a special custom made ultra low noise 2SK170 (which BTW, is sonically superior to ANY 3819—the type used by Joly). It is not a direct drop-in replacement, so I re-engineer the FET bias topology. Since the best capacitor is no capacitor, this solution allows me eliminate the input capacitor all together.

Unlike Joly, I use film capacitors only, which are superior to any electrolytics, including Black Gates.

Another important area of improvement is switches. While Joly just eliminates them, I actually re-engineer the circuit to make them work. We already had this discussion. For details look here:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslutz-forum/170965-oktava-mk-319-switch-mod.html

And last, not the least, on demand I can transform either 219, or 319 into a multipattern mic—whether cardioid-omni, or cardioid-omni-fig8.

Best, M

 

[dgatwood]

Well, maybe as Marik suggested you can take out the four front screws and get the resonator disc off that way.....or unscrew them a bit and snip the disc. Either way, IMHO, there is NO reason to unscrew the center screw; simply use wire cutters to snip the disc and off it comes......it's that simple, really.

Or you could do what I would do: cut all the wires, unscrew the screws (leaving the center one on), pull off the resonator disc, then put connectors inline on each of the wires so you can do quick capsule swaps to experiment with different capsules in different mics.

 

[kludge]

Id walk away from that deal...you are better off with a new Mxl990 for 50 bucks at musicians friend.

YUCK. I've tried them side-by-side, and even a stock 219 SMOKED the 990. I now have a modded 219 and a stock one. The difference isn't astounding if you just compare them side-by-side, but once you start putting the tracks in a real mix, look out! The modded 219 sits WAY better in a mix.

I don't see how it can be compared to a ribbon, except that it's not shockingly glaring bright like, oh, a 990. I've had mine side-by-side with a 414 and it held its own. Sounds a LOT more like a 414 than any ribbon! The modded 219 is sweeter and gentler-sounding than the 414, which can be pretty unforgiving, but they're very much in the same ballpark.